Insurance

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Much Touted For Cancer, ‘Precision Medicine’ Often Misses The Target

KFF Health News Original

Doctors and hospitals love to talk about the patients they’ve saved with precision medicine, and reporters love to write about them. But the people who die still vastly outnumber the rare successes.

The Remedy For Surprise Medical Bills May Lie In Stitching Up Federal Law

KFF Health News Original

The wide-ranging law has the potential to blindside many consumers whose health care comes from company and union health plans that are “self-funded,” meaning they pay claims out of their own funds.

Insulin’s Steep Price Leads To Deadly Rationing

KFF Health News Original

Alec Raeshawn Smith was 23 when diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and 26 when he died. He couldn’t afford $1,300 per month for his insulin and other diabetes supplies. So he tried to stretch the doses.

California: A Health Care Laboratory With Mixed Results

KFF Health News Original

California frequently innovates to address its wide-ranging health care needs, but it has not always achieved its aims. A series of articles in the journal Health Affairs shows, among other things, that efforts to care for HIV patients, provide better access to reproductive services for low-income women and fill gaps in primary care have sometimes fallen flat.

A Texas Lawsuit Being Heard This Week Could Mean Life Or Death For The ACA

KFF Health News Original

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, is set to hear arguments from Republican attorneys general who want him to strike down the federal health law and from Democratic counterparts who say the law is constitutional and should remain.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Ask Us Anything!

KFF Health News Original

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Joanne Kenen of Politico answer listeners’ questions about health policy and politics.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Opioids, EpiPens And Health Funding

KFF Health News Original

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Joanne Kenen of Politico discuss Senate action on health funding and opioid legislation, the state of the individual insurance market and consternation over expiration dates on EpiPens, the self-injected allergy remedy. Also, could an otter with asthma signal a potential public health crisis?

A Black Eye For Blue Shield: Consumers Lash Out Over Coverage Lapses

KFF Health News Original

California’s third-largest insurer faces anger from customers in the individual market who unexpectedly lost their insurance despite paying premiums faithfully. In its recently filed lawsuit, the company blamed a contractor for “egregious” billing problems.